Professional Documents
Culture Documents
charged with capital o enses are not en tled to have bail set,
although it may be. Defendants who have been convicted in the
Superior Court are not en tled to have bail set pending an appeal
to the Supreme Court, although it may be.
When is bail set?
Bail is some mes set at the police sta on at a SPECIAL ARRAIGNMENT by a bail commissioner. If it is set there, it may be posted at
the police sta on or at the ACI and the defendant will be released
on a promise to appear in Court. Generally, the more serious the
o ense, the less likely it is that bail will be set at the police sta on.
Usually, a fee is required for a bail commissioner to come and set
bail at the police sta on.
Regardless of whether the defendant was released from the police
sta on, a new bail decision will be made by a judge at the rst
court appearance. That bail will generally stay the same un l there
is a judgment of guilt or innocence in the case. It may change,
however, if the defendant does not maintain good behavior while
out on bail, does not reappear when required, or if the case
moves from one court to another. In addi on, it may change if a
serious event happens during the case, typically if a guilty verdict
is returned by a jury and the defendant is awai ng sentencing. At
this point, it may be cancelled altogether.
Behavior while on bail must be as good as behavior while on
proba on. A defendant promises both to reappear when required
and to Ikeep the peace and be of good behavior.J Special condi ons of release on bail may he set as well, and a bail release
may be supervised or not. If the state believes a viola on of one
of these condi ons has occurred, whether by an arrest for a new
o ense or something else, the state may charge a viola on of bail.
A er a hearing similar to a proba on viola on hearing on whether
the condi ons of the bail were violated, with witnesses and tes mony, the judge may order the defendant held without bail un l
trial or may increase the bail. If bail is revoked, the defendant may
be kept in jail awai ng trial for as long as three months.
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SUBMIT:
POPULAR NEIGHBORHOOD
MEDIA
We?ve set up a submissions page to serve as a par cipatory platform for people throughout Providence to submit
You denitely do not want to sign away these rights at the police
sta on.
What is Bail?
BAIL is a very complicated topic, but it is one of the most important since it determines whether defendants will wait for trial in
jail or on the street. Essen ally, every me a defendant appears in
court un l the very end of the case, the court will want some assurance that s/he will appear the next me. Some mes the court
will simply accept a promise to reappear; this is called PERSONAL
RECOGNIZANCE. Personal recognizance is set in some amount of
money, such as $1,000. No money changes hands when the bail is
set, and the defendant does not have to deposit any money. But
if the defendant fails to appear or breaks some other condi on of
release, s/he will owe the State the amount of the recognizance.
In se ng bail, the judge may look at family background, employment history, educa on, and criminal record, if any. The judge will
be looking for anything in a defendantWs background that might
indicate whether the defendant is likely voluntarily to reappear in
court.
In serious cases, or if the defendant has a long criminal record or
has failed to appear in the past, the Court wants more of an assurance than a promise alone. In these cases, some type of money
bail will be set. Most o en, the money bail that is set is called
SURETY bail. If the judge sets, for example, $10,000 with surety,
the defendant may secure release only by deposi ng a legal tle
to property worth $10,000 with the Court. This is called [pos ng\
bail. AnyoneWs property may be posted with the Court, so long as
they show true ownership and that the property has a value at
least equal to the amount of the surety required. Because many
people do not own property, two alterna ves have emerged.
First, the law allows a defendant to deposit a cash amount equal
to 10% of the surety bail set. If s/he appears in court every me it
is required, the 10% cash will be returned; if not, the deposit will
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When you make your call, it is best to call a lawyer or to call someone you trust who can call one for you. Make sure they know exactly where you are and that a lawyer comes to the police sta on
as soon as possible. If you call a lawyer, the police cannot listen to
the conversa on.
You have certain guaranteed rights at the police sta on. The police
may not inform you of this, but: YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE A
TELEPHONE CALL WITHIN ONE HOUR OF YOUR ARREST
Signing papers
The police may ask you to sign several papers while at the sta on.
Some of these papers may be damaging and it is advisable to not
sign any papers at the sta on without an a orney present.
The only paper you may want to sign is an INVENTORY that lists
the items taken from you when you arrived at the sta on. If you
do not sign this, you may not get your belongings back.
Some mes the police will ask you to sign a rights form or a waiver form. You do not have to sign this. Some mes the police add
items at the end of this form such as DI do not want a lawyer presentF or DI want to make a statementF to the bo om of this form.
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Possible direc ons could include developing co-opera ve legal collec ves/clinics based in working-class neighborhoods made up of
people with legal skills of all levels [not just DprofessionalF/white/
straight/men] to address the need for legal, jail, and court support
in oppressed communi es.
FYI -This page is not a subs tute for a lawyer or for legal advice.
Consult a lawyer for advice on specic advice about a par cular
situa on.
Source on legal info: Rhode Island Public Defender
If giving a confession would help you get a good deal now, which
it usually will not, it will help you just as much or more later. The
important thing to remember is that there is nothing you can do
by yourself in the police sta on that a lawyer could not do as well
or, more likely, be er, since s/he is trained for this purpose. You
can only hurt your case by giving a confession.
(5) =You have the right to stop the ques oning at any me.B If
you begin to give a statement, or confession, you may stop answering ques ons at any me. Just because you begin does not
mean you are DstuckE with your decision. If you change your mind
at any me or become unsure, stop answering ques ons. Occasionally, it may be true that giving a statement will help your case.
In that event, a lawyer will insure that you give a statement which
will help your case the most. It never hurts to have a lawyer with
you, even while you are giving a statement to the police.
Another right, which the police may not tell you about, is the right
to make a telephone call. You should always let someone know
that you are in the police sta on under arrest. The best person
to call is a lawyer. If you cannot a ord a private lawyer, or do not
know one to call, call the Public Defender O ce to speak to a lawyer. If you cannot reach a lawyer, call someone whom you trust to
call a lawyer for you. Make sure that the person you call knows exactly which police sta on you are being held at. If the person you
call is going to telephone a lawyer for you, make sure he or she
knows it is important that a lawyer come down to the sta on as
soon as possible. If your lawyer is not available, call another one.
The police may ask you to sign papers in the police sta on. Some
of these papers are not damaging, but it will be di cult somemes for you to know which are damaging documents and which
are not. The be er rule is not to sign anything at all (except that
you may want to sign an INVENTORY report which is a list of all
items taken from your pockets when you were arrested; if you do
not sign the report, it is possible you will not get your belongings
returned to you). Other than an inventory report, do not sign
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Miranda Rights
Police generally ques on persons they arrest. Prior to ques oning,
police will give some preliminary advice, called MIRANDA WARNINGS. This is what they are and what they mean:
(1) 0You have the right to remain silent.9 This means that you
are legally en tled to refuse to answer any ques ons at all. You
may think that if you refuse to answer ques ons, you will look
guilty. The law protects you, however, because a refusal to answer
ques ons cannot be admi ed in court if you were under arrest at
the me you refused. In other words, the jury will never know that
you refused to answer ques ons so they canLt hold it against you.
(2) 0Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.9
This means that anything you tell the police may be tes ed to
in court. If you say something damaging (incrimina ng), anyone
who heard you say it will tes fy in court, repea ng to the jury
what you said to the police. This is why an oral statement can be
as damaging to you as a wri en confession.
(3) 0You have the right to an a orney.9 You do not need to be
alone in the police sta on. You are en tled to have a lawyer there
with you during any police ques oning. If there is someone else
-- parent or a non-lawyer -- whom you want to be with you, ask
the police if he or she may be present during ques oning. The
police do not have to agree, but if they donLt, that is another good
reason not to give a statement.
(4) 0If you cannot a ord an a orney, one will be appointed for
you.9 If you are indigent, the police will call a Public Defender
lawyer to be with you at the sta on. Usually, a Public Defender
lawyer is not appointed un l your arraignment in court. However,
if you do want to make a statement, or if you do not know whether you want to make a statement or not, the police will ask a
Public Defender lawyer to come to the sta on to consult with you.
If no Public Defender is available, wait un l you get to court. Do
not make a statement just because there is no lawyer available.
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cutor or the judge. Neither can the police insure that a defendant
will not be prosecuted once s/he is charged. It is true that the police themselves determine whether a person will be arrested, but
it is highly unlikely that anything the defendant says will inuence
that decision. If there is enough evidence to arrest, the defendant
will be charged. If police do not yet have enough evidence, the
defendant runs the risk that the statement s/he gives will provide
that evidence.
Persons stopped while driving a car must show the police a license
and registra on. There are very special rules for when a car may
be searched if a person in the car is stopped or arrested. As a general rule of thumb, police can search any item within the car itself
if it might contain weapons. Nothing in a car is absolutely guaranteed to be secure against a police search, but items in a locked
trunk are protected more than items strewn about the seats; and
items kept in a locked container of any sort are more protected
than items kept in the open.
Persons stopped on the street need not show police anything.
The police may not search a person stopped on the street, unless
they are willing to make an arrest, with one excep on: if there is
a reason to believe the person is armed, police may UFRISKV the
person (pat down the outside of your clothing). O en if the police
believe they have found some incrimina ng ar cle on a person,
they will ask him or her to take it out and give it to them. No one
is obligated to do this. If the police are en tled under the law to
take the ar cle, the police should take it themselves. A defendant
who voluntarily gives police an item may nd that even though
the police were not legally en tled to have it to begin with, the
defendantLs ac on of handing it over may cons tute CONSENT.
Usually, anything the police take illegally may not be used against
a defendant in court: it will be SUPPRESSED from evidence. If,
however, a defendant turns over an item or consents to the police
taking it, the item may be used in court even if the police were not
en tled to take the item forcibly.
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the police literally put the defendant in a line with other people
to see if the vic m or witness can iden fy anyone in the line as
having par cipated in a crime. A lineup iden ca on can be very
damaging in court. Only persons formally charged are en tled to
be represented by an a orney at a lineup. If a person is represented by the Public Defender, a Public Defender a orney will come
down to the police sta on during the lineup.
Persons required to appear in a lineup should be careful not to
wear any dis nc ve clothing which might itself cause the witness
to make a posi ve iden ca on. The witness is supposed to make
an iden ca on, if s/he can, by face and physical characteris cs,
not by anything else. A defendant may be required to speak or say
certain words at a lineup and to put on certain clothing.
Normally, the police are not allowed to search your home without
a warrant. One excep on is when they are arres ng you in your
home. If they arrest you in your house, they are allowed to search
the nearby area. They are not allowed, however, to travel from
room to room, searching through your belongings unless they
have a search warrant for your home. It is important if you are
arrested in your home to stand in one place; anywhere you travel,
the police may be able to search.
Some mes the police will ask if they can Blook aroundC your
house or car. If you agree, you have consented and they may use
anything they nd in court against you. The police are able to look
and search anywhere if they have your consent. You do not have
to consent to any search. They will probably not ask for your consent to search somewhere they can legally search anyway; usually,
they will only ask for your consent if they would not legally be
able to search with it. You can only hurt yourself and your case by
consen ng.
Even if you believe you have nothing to hide, you should not consent to a search. You may not know what someone else has le
in your car or house; if the police nd something, they may not
believe you did not know it was there and they may arrest you.
If you give your consent to a search, you may change your mind at
any me. Even if the police are in the middle of a search, you may
tell them to stop. It is harder, however, to stop a search in progress
than it is to refuse to let them search at all, so the be er rule is
not to agree in the rst place.